The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More details: Complete poll results,
The poll of 1,025 registered voters was conducted Jan. 6 through Wednesday by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. Do you support or oppose requiring everyone in a vehicle to wear seat belts?
1. Support 90%
2. Oppose 9%
3. Don’t know; refused to answer 1%
The General Assembly will consider cutting the state income tax rate for the second time since 2018. Supporters say it will let Georgians keep more of their money. Critics say it will force cuts to vital services, like schools and public health care. Should the General Assembly lower the state tax rate again or increase the rate?
1. Lower tax rate 38%
2. Keep current tax rate 50%
3. Increase tax rate 9%
4. Don’t know; refused to answer 3%
The Legislature may consider letting parents use state tax dollars to create Education Scholarship Accounts. These accounts, like vouchers, could be used by parents to pay for private school tuition and other educational costs. Supporters say this provides parents more flexibility to customize their children’s education, while critics say it takes education dollars away from public schools that depend on state funding. Do you support or oppose the creation of Education Scholarship Accounts?
1. Support 54%
2. Oppose 40%
3. Don’t know; refused to answer 6% What is the single-most-important issue facing Georgia today?
1. Economy/jobs 15%
2. Health care 14%
3. Public education (k-12) 11%
4. Crime/public safety 9%
5. Moral issues 6%
6. Quality of life 5%
7. Transportation 4%
8. Taxes 2%
9. Some other issue 25%
10. Don’t know; refused to answer 10% How would you describe the state of Georgia’s economy?
1. Excellent 19%
2. Good 40%
3. Fair 27%
4. Poor 12%
5. Don’t know; refused to answer 2% Do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove of the way the Georgia General Assembly is handling its job?
1. Strongly approve 10%
2. Somewhat approve 42%
3. Somewhat disapprove 16%
4. Strongly disapprove 9%
5. Don’t know; refused to answer 23% Should Georgia expand eligibility for Medicaid, which provides health care for some poor Georgians, to cover all the state’s uninsured poor?
1. Yes 65%
2.No 30%
3. Don’t know; refused to answer 5%
ABOUT THE AJC’S JANUARY 2020 POLL
■ Why we conducted this poll: This poll is intended to provide a snapshot of how Georgia voters feel about issues before the 2020 session of the Legislature as well as current political events. It’s important to note that polling is just a small part of how The Atlanta Journal-Constitution covers state government and elections. Polling is not perfect, but it remains the most effective tool available for measuring public opinion. We know readers have many questions about our polls, so we provide detailed explanations of how they are conducted so you can evaluate them for yourself. Here are some common questions about our polls and their answers:
■ Who conducted the poll? The poll was conducted for the AJC by the School of Public and International Affairs Survey Research Center at the University of Georgia. Students made the calls, under the direction of M.V. (Trey) Hood III, the director of the center and a professor of political science. UGA began polling for the AJC in 2018. An archive of our polls can be found at ajc.com/news/georgia-polls/
■ Who selected the questions? The AJC created the survey, which included several questions we have asked in previous polls.
■ Whom did we talk to? 1,025 registered voters from across the state, from Jan. 6 to 15. The numbers were randomly drawn from a voter registration list obtained through the sampling vendor L2. The company maintains a database constructed from the state’s voter registration lists. Through commercial sources, phone numbers have been added to the individual records (registrants) that make up these lists. 70% of the calls were made to cellphone numbers; 30% to landlines.
■ What is weighting and how do you do it? Some adjustments are made to the total population of people surveyed to accurately reflect the demographics of the state. This poll was weighted for race, age, sex and education. Adjusting for the education level of respondents is a change made with this poll. The practice is becoming more common and is recommended by the American Association for Polling Opinion and Research (AAPOR).
■ What is the “margin of error” for the poll, and what exactly does that mean? No matter how carefully a poll is conducted, there will always be some measure of uncertainty when you survey a small portion of a larger population, such as the state of Georgia. The margin of error is the measure of the uncertainty in the sample. The margin of error that we report accounts for these sources of uncertainty. For example, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points, a candidate polling at 50% could have support of anywhere between 46% and 54%, with a 95% level of confidence. That means that if we drew 100 different samples using the same methodology, then no more than 5 times out of 100 should chance variations in the sample cause the results to vary by more than 4 percentage points from the answers that would be obtained if all Georgians were polled. Note: The survey was conducted by telephone, with 70% of calls made to cellphones and 30% to traditional landlines. The data are weighted based on race, age, sex and to accurately reflect the demographics of the state. Some totals may not equal 100% due to rounding.